“Many local surfers and lifeguards have seen this and believe it to be a shark,” the mom added. “Of course, I told my kids it was a dolphin, as we live at the beach and are in the waters here almost daily.”

Emmerson was obviously trying to protect her son from the fear of a shark attack as data shows that bites are rare. You’re much more likely to die of the flu. You have a one in 63 chance of dying from the flu and a one in 3,700,000 chance of being killed by a shark, according to National Geographic.

But some bloggers are attacking Emmerson for not telling her son that the creature could have been a shark. Over at Cafe Mom’s The Stir, Nicole Fabian-Weber writes,”…wouldn’t you want your children to know there are sharks in the water they often play in so they can be more aware of their surroundings? And what if they saw the ‘dolphin’ coming near them and tried to pet it? I don’t claim to have this parenting thing totally figured out, but that seems like an odd route to take.”

Fabian-Weber might have a point. Shark sightings seem to be more common off the beaches at Manhattan, Redondo and Ventura. Experts suspect the shark population is rebounding after “California legislators prohibited the use of gill nets for fishing in 1990,” according to the LA Times. This month a paddleboarder took video footage of three great whites off Manhattan Beach, only yards from surfers, but the sharks were minding their own business. ”The sharks didn’t seem to be paying me any attention. They looked like they were looking for fish, so I felt I could stand there safely and watch them,” Jay Dohner, 38, told the LA Times.

No matter, was the large creature even a shark? KTLA reported the story saying it was most likely a shark but some sources are questioning the report.

GrindTV says, “…if you look closely at the photo, the tail fin is horizontal, like that of a dolphin. Also, there is no sign of a second dorsal fin, which sharks possess.

“Plus, bottlenose dolphins are frequently seen surfing in the faces of waves, while sharks are not. If this still looks more like a shark than a dolphin, water distortion could be the reason.”